The term ‘spot zoning’ does not appear in the compiled laws of the State of Michigan, and is rarely mentioned in local zoning ordinances.  Spot zoning is a legal concept determined by judges or juries ruling on individual cases, so the meaning and interpretation of the concept can vary considerably from place to place.

Justice Potter Stewart, U.S. Supreme Court

The most common response I’ve heard to the question “What is spot zoning?” is an echo of Justice Potter Stewart’s quote about pornography:  “I can’t tell you exactly what spot zoning is, but I know it when I see it.”

(more…)

To some in local government, the economic downturn and reduced tax revenues may raise the question of whether it’s worthwhile to fund local economic development initiatives.  The best answer is that providing for local economic development is an important way of ensuring that your community is friendly to businesses and can quickly respond on a local company’s behalf at critical times.

For example, Building Place recently read about a high technology company that experienced catastrophic damage to one of its clean rooms when the town’s water line burst.  The flood damage threatened the company’s ability to stay in operation, and therefore threatened job losses and reduced tax revenues for the town.  Fortunately, the local economic development office responded quickly and…

(more…)

Planners by nature tend to love what they do (more often than not anyway), but sometimes things can get tough:

• A controversial proposal can bring a roomful of upset residents to a public hearing;
• A looming project deadline can require very long days that extend into the wee hours; or
• A bad day at the office brings five new variance petitions, ten irate ‘customers’ to the service counter, and two angry phone calls from your boss.

Now those are just some hypothetical examples of events that could upset a planner’s day.  Here is the story of a real-life circumstance of one Charlotte, NC area planner “ripped from the headlines“…

(more…)